Meet Wilf and Bernie Anderson, Mundford, Norfolk, UK

Wilf and Bernie Anderson of Mundford, Norfolk, UK

Wilf and Bernie's front garden in Mundford.

Wilf and Bernie Anderson grew up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, now known as Newcastle-on-Tyne in Northumberland County.

This is the Borders area between England and Scotland, and towns were considered English or Scottish, depending on the latest warfare.

Anderson is a Scottish surname, and Bernie is from the McLeod Clan, who were involved in the Highland Clearances.

Between Newcastle-on-Tyne and Mundford, they have covered some extensive territory.

The folks in Newcastle were known as “Geordies” since they supported the English kings over the Stuart family dynasty.

Wilf left school at 16, which was only recently raised to 18 in the United Kingdom.

He began working as a chemistry laboratory assistant, attending college at nights.

With marriage and three children added to his life, his degree required 10 years to acquire.

His coursework included math, physics and metallurgy in addition to chemistry.

Crick and Watson’s unraveling of the DNA code while he was in college caused a total overhaul of the organic chemistry class syllabus, with much new knowledge to understand.

Wilf’s chemistry degree is from Rutherford College of Technology, and he is a chartered chemist and graduate of the Royal Institute of Chemistry.

Professions such as accountants, engineers and scientists are chartered when they meet professional standards.

He has worked in product development in rubber and plastics and in waste treatment (second hand food industry, he said).

Bernie left school at 15 and began work after taking a shorthand and typing course.

She has worked in offices, schools and doctor’s offices.

At one time, she worked for the National Coal Board in the accounting department supervising five or six people doing invoicing and billing.

She took time off to be a stay-at-home mother while her three children were young and then returned to part-time work.

Wilf comments that she is excellent with machines and on the computer.

Wilf’s work took them several places, but the biggest move was to Brownsville, Texas, in 1989.

Bernie remarked that she didn’t need any new clothes or new recipes, since no one in Texas had ever met her before.

They enjoyed Brownsville and meeting new people, basically getting to know America.

Wilf’s specialty background brought him to work with people from Texas and Mexico on a project at Matamoras, Mexico, just across the border from Brownsville.

They are interested in American history and government, and the contrasts with their native land.

Wilf admires the United States’ government system of checks and balances, with the horse trading involved being a problem occasionally.

Their own Parliament is now on five-year terms, and they think a little more rapid turnover might be helpful.

They chuckle at all of the attention paid to the royal family, since they don’t agree that kings and queens are superior to other people.

This weekend Princess Charlotte, young daughter of Prince William and his wife Kate, is being christened at Sandringham castle.

The one benefit they see to the hordes of people and press in Sandringham is the boon to the local economy.

While Wilf was busy at work in the U.S., he made trips to Florida, Chicago, Las Vegas and Utah.

Bernie belonged to a local gardeners’ club and two embroidery groups.

At the United Methodist Church, she taught young girls how to make scones and host a tea.

The Anderson’s have collected many variations between American and the King’s English.

Americans get mail, while the post comes in England.

The car has a boot and bonnet in the UK, while Americans have trunks and hoods.

A cigarette is a fag, and a cigarette butt is a fag end.

What is simply a plan here is a scheme in England, although a scheme sounds a little dodgy in the U.S. Their favorite American ad? Tom Bodet saying, “We’ll leave the light on for you.” Wilf and Bernie have two daughters and a son, and their daughter Fiona and her husband are traveling soon to Seattle.

They are looking forward to driving their rental car through the Olympic Peninsula, where they will spend a few nights.

Then they will drive to Portland, Ore., find Highway 101 and drive to Big Sur, through the Sonoma Valley, and fly home from San Francisco.

The Anderson’s regret not traveling more while living in Brownsville.

When they left the UK, Bernie told Fiona that they should only be gone three years, so just wait on the grandchildren until they return.

Fiona said, “Too late!” Their grandchildren and her grandnieces and grandnephews were born during the fifteen years they spent in Texas, so their travel together time was spent coming back to visit family.

Bernie, who did not have a card permitting her to work in the United States, had a little more travel time, so she visited New Orleans and saw most of Texas.

Until moving to the United States, they really had not realized how huge the country is compared to the UK. Texas, the second largest state, is five times the size of England.

England has the same population as Texas on one-fifth the land area, albeit none as dry as parts of Texas.

Bernie and Wilf live in the small village of Mundford, just down the street from Yallop’s, the local meat shop and grocery.

Their home is 300 years old, attached to two other residences.

They are not built like townhouses, where the vertical walls are the dividing lines.

Their bedroom is over a neighbor’s dining room, and their neighbors have a path to their back garden between the Anderson’s garage and back garden.

Their daughter Janet and her dog live with them, and their son has offered a cat when he moves from a single house to a gated community.

The local garden tour, featuring fourteen gardens in Mundford and four more down the road toward Swaffham, was held on a sunny Saturday.

There were water features and ponds galore, with just one above-ground swimming pool, a rarity here.

Wildlife gardens, cottage gardens, gazebos, conservatories and all sorts of relaxing havens were shown.

Admission was three pounds fifty, and money raised went to the Marie Curie Cancer Center and the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.

Other fundraising possibilities at garden sites included cold lemonade, Pimm’s, desserts, used books, raffles with prizes, jewelry and potted plants.

Most of the women wore sun dresses, and wearing longer shorts still looked terribly American.

Wilf and Bernie’s garden was one of the featured gardens on the tour.

Wilf started working on their front garden over two years ago.

It was a weedy mess, with soil piled up against the stone and brick house and garden wall.

The soil was pulled away from the wall and house and stands in a gentle mound in the right third of the garden.

Janet helped with the planting and color plan.

They worked with existing trees, planting plenty of the hostas they grew to love in the U.S. Anemone, burgundy coral bells and a whole host of other plants have turned it into a little paradise.

Like many English gardens, there are stone steps and walkways made of pea gravel.

Cobbles, stone steps and pea gravel do not work well with snow, so one can tell that snow is rare here.

Their back garden is raised beds with roses and vegetables.

The Anderson’s no longer drive, but there is community car service, and small buses operate on a schedule to take people shopping.

They do most of their shopping online with Waitrose, a large grocery chain.

One benefit is less impulse buying.

Although they loved their time in the United States, Bernie remembers turning 70 just before they moved back, driving through hot, dry Texas, and thinking, “Please Lord, let me see another English spring.”